Kinetics of phenol alkylation with tert-butyl alcohol using supported ionic liquid catalyst

• Published in: Chemical engineering journal advances 2020-12, Vol.4, p.100045, Article 100045
• Main Authors: Elavarasan, Pandian, Rengadurai, Selvanarayanan, Upadhyayula, Sreedevi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Kinetics; Phenol; SBA; Supported ionic liquid catalyst; Tert-butylation
• ISSN: 2666-8211; 2666-8211
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ceja.2020.100045

•SO3-H functional supported ionic liquid covalently bonded with thiol functional mesoporous silica support (SBA).•The supported ionic liquid catalyst activity in tert-butylation of phenol was investigated and reaction is controlled by intrinsic kinetics.•Kinetic investigations show moderate alcohol to phenol mole ratios and catalysts loading at near room temperature.•The catalyst activity was retained even after 5 recycles, these result shows the ionic liquid strongly bonded with solid support. Sulphonic acid functional ionic liquid was prepared by covalently bonded with mesoporous silica material (SBA-15). The physical structure, composition and functional groups were characterised. The prepared catalyst activity was investicated in tert-butylation of phenol with tert-butyl alcohol (TBA) was using a batch autoclave reactor. The different parameters like reaction time, reaction temperature, catalyst amount and reactant mole ratio on the conversion of phenol and selectivity towards 2‑tert-butyl phenol (4-TBP), 4‑tert‑butyl phenol (2-TBP) and 2,4-di‑tert‑butyl phenol (2,4-DTBP) was studied. Maximum phenol conversion of 72% was obtained at Lower tert‑butanol to phenol mole ratios and lower catalyst loading. The activation energy was found to be 4.2 kcal/mol with second order rate equation from the experimental data. [Display omitted]